(22 Feb 2022, 8:44 am)Andreos1 wrote Plus there wasn't the Airport or Sunderland extensions. Meaning the fleet was concentrated across a smaller geographical footprint as opposed to now, where the same fleet has a larger area to cover.
Yep. And the fleet was relatively new back then and not plagued by the problems which 40-odd years of constant use present.
Perhaps a more useful comparison for a pre vs post deregulation level of service would be 1983 vs. 1991 (before the Airport extension opened) or 1983 vs 2002 (just after the Sunderland extension) was opened.